Paul Kagame, the RPF Chairman and flagbearer in this month’s presidential elections, said that the reason for building his home in Bugesera District was to change the narrative that the place was designated as a dumping area for people left to die as was the case in the past when the genocidal government relocated hundreds of Tutsi families there so they could be killed by tsetse flies.

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Kagame was addressing more than 260,000 RPF supporters from Bugesera and Nyanza districts gathered at Kindama site, the second stop of the campaign trail in Eastern Province, after Kirehe District.

In the presidential and parliamentary elections set for July 14-15, Kagame is competing with former lawmaker Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, and Philippe Mpayimana, an independent candidate.

At the campaign rally, Singer Knowless Butera shared her testimony of growing up in Bugesera, with only one relative in post-Genocide Rwanda. Despite the hardships, benefited from the numerous opportunities the RPF-led government put in place, including access to education, and improved infrastructure. Knowless now enjoys a dignified life in Bugesera and she assured the RPF Chairman of the young people’s commitment to developing the country even farther.

Over the past seven years, Bugesera District witnessed the construction of 78.8 kilometers of tarmac roads, homes with access to electricity multiplied six times, Kanzeze water plant, 1,063 classrooms, the mobile clinic of Nyamata Hospital, and at least 39,000 people got employed under the VUP programme.

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Kagame told the crowd that the reason why he chose to have a home in the district was to change the narrative that being called a Bugesera resident sounded like an insult because, in Rwanda’s history, the genocidal regime used to throw the Tutsi in this area to die from bites of tsetse flies.

Kagame said: "The reason why I came to reside here and with the increasing infrastructure you see here, and more in the pipeline, was to send a message that in all of Rwanda, there is no place designated to throw people to die. I came to change the narrative.”

Rwandans should live in harmony and commit to do things for their own development, he said, noting that everyone should have access to development and security.

"There was a time when me and my generation had a chance to be RPF-Inkotanyi. RPF is beyond those three letters. It is the politics, a mindset, a lifestyle, and a way of doing things aligned with the best practices towards achieving a level of development that others have, and possibly outdo them.”

"We cannot take that for granted. I am particularly addressing this to the young people; we want to raise you in that RPF political ideology of striving for our development and security,” he said.

The incumbent President noted that all people are equal, whether in Rwanda, in the neighboring countries, or overseas where they have achieved a lot but they haven’t created a human being because it is impossible.

"Young people should be fearless. You should be able to look someone in the eyes and tell them that they are not your god. That is the goal, that is RPF politics. You should prosper. That is how you achieve what you want to. No one will come to mess with what we are building.”

People should aim to protect their country, know each other and understand that the good things that happen to one person should even reach other people and the entire country, he noted.

"When you want peace, you should be ready to protect it and we are ready to do so. The next thing after security is good politics that is inclusive and prioritizes development,” he said, highlighting that decrying the lack of things such as schools, hospitals, and food, should issues of the past.

According to Kagame, that is the journey the country has already started and the elections should be a democracy to choose the continuation of that development path.

"If you elect me, you will be electing RPF. I am, because of you, and you can choose to be because of me. It is mutual and a pact we share.”